The National Lottery wrongly paid a convicted fraudster and rapist £2.5 million after he allegedly used a fake ticket to fraudulently claim the jackpot, it has emerged.

Edward Putman, 51, was paid the sum by Camelot in 2009 using a ticket which Camelot now says was "deliberately damaged".

His victory at the time caused outrage after it emerged that he had been convicted of rape and went on to fraudulently claim benefits after his multimillion pound "win".

But on Friday it emerged that Putman - who used the 'winnings' to buy two homes in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, worth a combined £1.2m and a fleet of sports cars - should never have been paid the money.

A spokesman for Camelot, whose headquarters is in Watford - six miles from Kings Langley, said that many members of staff who had worked at the organisation in 2009 had since moved on, making it difficult to investigate.

It is believed the win relates to a £2.5 million jackpot from March 2009 which was claimed at the last minute in September 2009 - just days before the 180 day limit for claiming prizes expired.

Putman was paid the sum into an account with St James's Bank, the bank which Camelot recommends to winners.

He had been claiming benefits on the grounds he was "too ill" to work and "too broke to eat" and on the "brink of eviction" despite living in a £600,000 property filled with dozens of high performance cars and owning a second £400,000 property in the area.

Details also emerged of his rape conviction from 1991, in which he was sentenced to seven years for breaking into a property and raping and seriously assaulting a 17-year-old girl who was pregnant at the time. In the 1980s he was also convicted of wounding a neighbour.

Camelot chief executive Andy Duncan has apologised for the incident.

"We accept that, at the time, there were some weaknesses in some of the specific controls relevant to this incident and we're very sorry for that," he said.

"It's really important that people understand that this allegation relates to a unique, one-off incident dating back to 2009 and involves a potentially fraudulent claim on a deliberately damaged ticket. It has nothing to do with the National Lottery draws themselves.

"We've strengthened our processes significantly since 2009 and are completely confident that an incident of this nature could not happen today. We welcome the Gambling Commission's confirmation that this is the case."

The Commission said Camelot had already taken steps to ensure that a similar problem would not happen again.

The watchdog's chief executive, Sarah Harrison, said: "The Gambling Commission's chief concern is to ensure the National Lottery is run with integrity and that player interests are protected.

"Camelot's failures in this case are serious and the penalty package reflects this. Importantly, the package also ensures that good causes will not lose out as a result of Camelot's licence breach.

"Lottery players can feel reassured that our investigations have found no evidence of similar events happening and that controls are in place today to mitigate against future prize payout failings of this type."

Tom Watson, the shadow culture secretary, called for an urgent statement by the Government on what he called "the great Lotto robbery".

He said: "Thousands of organisations rely on money from the National Lottery and the millions of people who play it are right to expect that the rules of the game are fair.

"Camelot has very serious questions to answer.

"So too do ministers. Karen Bradley was asked only yesterday in Parliament about security breaches at the National Lottery and she failed to offer assurance that the Government is taking steps to improve it."

The commission ruled that Camelot breached the terms of its operating licence over control of its databases, the way it investigated prize claims and its processes "around the decision to pay a prize".

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: "The integrity of the National Lottery is absolutely paramount and it is crucial that both players and returns to good causes are protected and not at risk from fraudulent activity.

"It is right that the Gambling Commission has acted in this case and assured us that Camelot has put controls in place to mitigate against any similar licence breach in the future."